Thai Stock Market: Resistance Seen At 1,700 Points

(RTTNews) - The Thai stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, gaining more than 8 points or 0.5 percent along the way. The Stock Exchange of Thailand now rests just above the 1,695-point plateau although the rally may stall on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to lower, thanks to a disappointing jobs report from the U.S. and a decline in the price of crude oil. The European and U.S. markets were mostly in the red, and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

The SET finished modestly higher on Friday as gains from the energy producers were capped by weakness from the financial shares.

For the day, the index picked up 5.10 points or 0.30 percent to finish at 1,695.97 after trading between 1,693.79 and 1,701.12. Volume was 11.901 billion shares worth 59.495 billion baht. There were 683 decliners and 595 gainers, with 436 stocks finishing unchanged.

Among the actives, Advanced Info shed 0.26 percent, while Thailand Airport lost 0.43 percent, Banpu fell 0.57 percent, Bangkok Bank and Krung Thai Bank both dipped 0.53 percent, Bangkok Medical climbed 0.98 percent, Charoen Pokphand Food dropped 0.94 percent, Kasikornbank slid 0.48 percent, PTT added 0.48 percent, PTT Exploration and Production was down 0.56 percent, PTT Global Chemical surged 3.12 percent and Siam Concrete and Bangkok Expressway were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street provides little clarity as stocks turned in a lackluster performance on Friday, eventually ending on opposite sides of the unchanged line.

The NASDAQ added 4.82 points or 0.07 percent to 6,590.18, while the Dow shed 1.72 points or 0.01 percent to 22,773.67 and the S&P 500 fell 2.74 points or 0.11 percent to 2,549.33. For the week, the Dow surged 1.6 percent, while the NASDAQ gained 1.5 percent and the S&P jumped 1.2 percent.

The mixed close followed the Labor Department that showed an unexpected decrease in employment in the U.S. in September - although the jobless rate fell to 4.2 percent from 4.4 percent in August for the lowest level since February of 2001.

Energy stocks were down as crude oil prices saw a steep drop. Crude for November delivery plunged $1.50 to $49.29 a barrel after climbing $0.81 to $50.79 a barrel on Thursday, with the pullback attributed to renewed oversupply concerns.